NJ Transit is far behind on installing safety technology and at risk of blowing an end-of-year deadline, according to stats from the Federal Railroad Administration released Friday.

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Only a third of the hardware needed for the technology, known as Positive Train Control, which aims to prevent derailment disasters and speeding, has been installed before the Dec. 31 deadline.

That put NJ Transit near the bottom of the list of commuter railroads installing the system - it’s only further along than Austin, Texas’ CapMetro and the New Mexico Rail Runner Express, according to a progress report through June 30.

NJ Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder highlighted the positive developments, saying that the agency has finished 61% of the entire project, including the training of more than 800 employees, up from 12% complete after six months. She said NJ Transit has made more strides in those six months than the previous administration made in the last six years.

“Positive Train Control implementation remains our highest priority,” Snyder said. “While we've made significant progress and continue to work to meet the federal requirements by Dec. 31, we still have our work cut out for us over the next four months.”

The FRA sent NJ Transit a letter in June noting that it was at risk of missing the deadline to get its hardware in place on trains and along tracks.

If NJ Transit can get the technology on track, the FRA could give the railroad until the end of 2020 to get the Positive Train Control system working.

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Meanwhile, Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North had more than 90% of its hardware installed. The MTA reported that LIRR and Metro-North is on a path to meet federal compliance deadlines and will start testing the tech in passenger service this fall, according to an MTA spokeswoman.

NJ Transit’s upgrade is crucial on tracks Amtrak owns in its northeast corridor. Amtrak chief Richard Anderson told a U.S. House committee in February that it would kick out railroads that lack proper equipment to run over its tracks there.

“We continue to work with our commuter partners on the implementation of PTC,” Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams said.

Positive Train Control could have prevented deadly derailments around the country, including one in the Bronx in 2013, when a Metro-North train barreled into a curve and derailed in Spuyten Duyvil, killing four people on board.